Like Father, Like Son — The Gallaghers on Legacy, Leadership and Letting Go.
Leading with Hearts and MindsShow Notes
Two careers. And a conversation recorded at exactly the right moment.
Finn Gallagher's career began in a locked ward in Letterkenny in 1953. He retired as Chief Nursing Officer, having helped reshape mental health services in Ireland from the ground up. His son Paul followed in his footsteps into nursing and is currently the Regional Director of Nursing and Midwifery — a role he will leave later this year.
In this episode, Marie Kilduff sits down with both of them — together, for the first time on the podcast.
What emerges is rarer than a career retrospective. It's a conversation about the decisions that define a life — recorded while Paul is still in post, and Finn can still remember what it felt like to be where his son is now. A young nurse choosing a ward over the Gardaí, guided by a single question from an older man he had rarely met. A father stepping back from his son's first day so the son could find his own footing. A wife's four words that settled a move that felt like emigrating.
Paul returns to Leading with Hearts and Minds, having previously shared his own story. This time, Finn is in the room — and what passes between them says as much as anything either man puts into words.
For anyone in nursing or healthcare leadership, this episode carries something quietly useful: what influence looks like when it's patient, what mentorship looks like when it asks rather than tells, and what it means to hand something on.
In this episode:
Why Finn nearly joined the Gardaí — and what stopped him Paul's memory of his father at work, and what it planted in him The decision to move from Donegal to Limerick — and the conversation that made it possible What both men would say to the next generation of nursing leaders
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